Questions of fairness raised about new elections law

Elections experts say new Florida law could hinder voting by minorities

June 11, 2011|By Lloyd Dunkelberger, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

TALLAHASSEE — In 2008, more than half of the African-American voters in Florida who participated in the historic election of President Barack Obama did it by voting early.

In the state's largest counties, with the highest number of black voters, many voters went to the early voting sites on the Sunday before Election Day.

Now, under a new law — passed by a Republican Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott last month — that early voting period has been cut from 14 days to eight days. And the Sunday voting, before Election Day, has been eliminated.

Democrats and other critics say the changes — which are just part of a sweeping elections law that also revamps voter registration, petition drives and other voting issues — are designed to raise barriers to potential Democratic votes in the nation's largest battleground state heading into the 2012 presidential election. They contend the law will have a disproportionate impact on black voters.

An analysis of state election records by the Florida Democratic Party showed that in 2008, 1.1 million black voters participated in the general election, in which they had the opportunity to elect the country's first African-American president. Nearly 54 percent of those voters cast ballots before Election Day at early-voting sites. The figure does not include the 13.6 percent that cast absentee ballots.

In contrast, only 27 percent of the white voters used the early-voting sites, with another 25 percent using absentee ballots. Some 32.5 percent of Hispanic voters participated in early voting.

Independent elections experts say Florida's decision to shorten its early-voting period may be particularly vulnerable to a legal challenge because of the data showing changes to that system could discriminate against black voters.

Last week, Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning asked the U.S. Department of Justice to endorse the law since the state needs preclearance for changing its elections laws in five counties, which have had a history of voting problems. The counties are Hillsborough, Hendry, Collier, Hardee and Monroe.

The preclearance is part of the Voting Rights Act, the 1965 federal law that banned discriminatory voting practices, including those that were historically aimed at black voters in the South.

Department of State officials said they were confident that the new law would win approval from the federal government. The confidence stems in part from the fact that, although the law reduces the number of early-voting days, it keeps the total potential hours the same by allowing counties the option of keeping the sites open for 12 hours a day.

"The reality is that the changes to early voting make Florida elections more accessible," said Chris Cate, a spokesman for Browning. "And, if the enthusiasm for the candidates remains the same as it was in 2008, I actually expect see an increase in early voting turnout in 2012."

In another analysis of the 2008 election in Florida, Michael McDonald, an assistant professor of government and politics at George Mason University, demonstrated that African-American voters accounted for roughly 22 percent of the daily turnout at the early voting sites in 2008, although they only accounted for 13.1 percent of the registered voters. The early voting daily percentages for black voters ranged from a low of 19.6 percent to a high of 36 percent.

Based on that data, McDonald said Florida could face a significant legal challenge in demonstrating to the federal government that shortening the number of early-voting days will not negatively impact black voters.

"When you look at these numbers there seems to be at least facial evidence right away that suggests there would be disparate effects," McDonald said.

He said the state can argue those effects can be eliminated by using measures such as providing additional voting sites, guaranteeing longer hours and providing more notification to voters.

But he added: "It looks to me like it's going to be difficult to make this argument."

McDonald said there are legitimate public policy reasons for shortening the early voting period, including reducing the cost to local election officials. In an ideal setting, McDonald said he would like to see elections officials have the ability to adjust the early voting periods based on the anticipation of a high- or low-turnout election.

Cate said the new Florida early-voting system will be "friendlier for working voters" because election officials will have the option of keeping their voting sites open up to 12 hours a day, rather than the previous 8 hours, providing more access to Floridians before and after work.

The new law, although it eliminates one day of weekend voting before the election, provides up to 36 hours of weekend voting, compared to 16 hours under the old law, Cate said.